An Earth-friendly way to easily upgrade and fix your own computer

Thank you to everyone who responded about the 3D printing: a special
update is being drafted. The pre-production EOMA68-A20 revision 2.7.4
samples arrived and have been tested. Decisions need to be made on
how to deliver OSes to people.

Pre-production 2.7.4 EOMA68-A20 Cards

These pre-production samples were where the decision was made to
remove the problematic (and end-of-life) legacy TSSOP-48 NAND IC.
Interestingly, it was learned that the use of these same TSSOP-48 NAND
ICs has caused major corporations to cancel mass-produced products
very recently. From the prior
update
I outlined why this NAND IC had to go: the good news is that,
hardware-wise, the re-routing to use the A20’s SDC2 and SDC0 worked
perfectly.

The annoying news is that the software is lacking: the standard 2015
sunxi u-boot expects to see only one microSD card. So I modified
u-boot SPL
to attempt to load u-boot from sector 32 from first SDC0 and if that
fails to try SDC2 instead. That also had to be matched by modifying
the default “scan” procedure in u-boot to also look for uEnv.txt,
boot.scr and so on. These changes have been committed to the
git.rhombus-tech.net
u-boot repository under the sunxi branch and they work well.

The linux-sunxi-3.4.104 kernel on the other hand has bugs in it (which
are different from the bugs in the mainline sunxi linux kernel).
Basically the symptoms are: if you boot from SDC0 (on the Micro Desktop
housing) and then put a microSD card into SDC2 (on the EOMA68-A20
Card) all is well. If however booting is carried out from SDC2
followed by inserting a Card into SDC0, SDC0 is guaranteed to get a
“read error”. This is annoying… and I am not going to fix it: I
just don’t have time. If anyone would like to submit a patch or knows
of a fix.... or is prepared to make a bug report (using the proprietary
services that the sunxi community utilise) you are most welcome to do
so: you would be helping out 800 other people in the process.

The issue that is of more concern is the JAE DC3 mid-mount Micro-HDMI
connector. These connectors are as rare as rocking-horse poop. We
are on to the fourth such connector in the five years of looking. The
first one - a part from Amphenol - was absolutely perfect, but it has
been discontinued. They are happy to restart production but only if a
million units are ordered. An ongoing discussion is on the mailing
list here
if anyone can help: the issue is that space is extremely tight such
that VIAs need to be brought up in the middle of the pads… which are
only 0.2 mm wide and 0.7 mm long The via holes are 0.15 mm in diameter
and the solder paste sucks down into the hole when the PCB is put into
the oven.

But that’s not all: inspection of the 10 samples (only one of which
had a semi-working HDMI output) it was observed that the inner set of
pins was not even in contact with the PCB! The reasons for this are
that either this tiny connector has been improperly manufactured, or
that during installation, the use of a heat gun melted the plastic
inside the connector sufficiently that the outer (top) pins bent
downwards, preventing and prohibiting the inner (bottom) pins from
contacting the PCB.

So, sad to say: we cannot yet go to production, unless we simply go to
production without the HDMI connector. That would cut off dual-screen
as a feature, and also cut off a second 1920x1080 output when output
on the EOMA68 RGB/TTL connector is limited to 1366x768.

Why was this not noticed before? Well, it’s very simple: this is only
the second revision of this PCB which has used this connector (2.7.2 before
now), and the assembly of the 2.7.2 PCBs was done by hand. We
intended to go to production with the 2.7.4 PCBs so the factory tried
to use production techniques to assemble the boards: only then was
it discovered that the solder paste was being wicked away down the
pads.

This is just how it goes. You do not discover these things - one
after another - until you actually try them out. You cannot
anticipate what you do not know, if you do not know it. And, as this
is hardware, it’s a three- to eight-week turnaround in addition to testing,
debugging, analysis, problem-solving, and redesign time. This is just
how things are, and we need to be extraordinarily patient.

Now, given that the cost each time is around $1600 to $2000 we simply
cannot spend that much each time: for each pre-production run costing
$USD 2000 that is 100 production units that could have been sent out.
Instead what we will do is create another test board, only 2 layer, to
try out different techniques. The cost of a 1” x 2”, two-layer PCB
will be minimal and the turn-around time much quicker. Several
different redesigns of footprints will be tested out at the same time,
to see which ones work. These test sample PCBs will be put through
the production process to make sure that they work. Once we have a
working technique, only then will the successful footprint be put onto
a 2.7.5 PCB.

If however that does not work, then I will, sadly, just call it a day
on the Micro-HDMI connectors. This has gone on long enough and I
would like to actually deliver something to people. I will do the
best that I can.

Implications of Using microSD Cards: Delivering OSes

With the removal of the problematic legacy NAND TSSOP and the decision
not to put an eMMC in its place (in order to reduce risk), boot can
only be done from external microSD cards. That in turn means that
1,000 microSD cards would need to be bought, prepared and tested.
Some of the OS images are too large to fit onto a 4 GB Card: that means
8 or 16 GB is needed. 8 GB and 16 GB microSD cards are actually quite
expensive, pushing up the cost considerably when compared to using a
NAND IC.

So I am considering instead to simply provide download scripts for
people, and/or to offer much smaller 128 MB or 256 MB microSD cards
which have an absolute bare minimum OS on them, with scripts that will
download an OS onto their own (self-supplied) 4 GB, 8 GB or 16 GB or
other sized microSD card. This really does need to be considered
because the unanticipated iterations have eaten into the available
budget. I would consider it reasonable to assume that people can
obtain or already have their own microSD cards and have some spare, or
if not can obtain one at a local supermarket, nearby tech store, or
purchase one online.

However before making a decision I would appreciate some feedback (preferably on
the mailing list) as this is something that needs to be
discussed, how people would feel about the need to save on cost of
production vs convenience and expectations. Some people, for example,
may not have a reliable Internet connection or may not be expecting to
connect their EOMA68-A20 Card to the Internet at all, or for whatever
reason may not actually have the means to download a 1.7 GB file off
the Internet. I will therefore start an appropriate discussion which
you can follow and contribute to, on the
list.

Micro Desktop Housing for Computer Card

This is a Micro Desktop base unit and power supply unit with a beautiful laser-cut stack of 3mm plywood panels that creates an aesthetically attractive tiny base unit for your Computer Cards. Excludes Computer Card, keyboard, mouse and VGA monitor.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $12 Worldwide

$450

PIY Laptop Housing Kit for Computer Card

This Print-It-Yourself (PIY) kit includes all the parts, cabling and
boards (main, power, and controller, assembled and tested), and
battery, charger, keyboard, LCD, and CTP-LCD for trackpad that are
needed to build a complete Libre Laptop once you 3D print the
enclosure from the freely available GPLv3+ licensed plans. Excludes
Computer Card.

Orders placed now ship Apr 30, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $25 Worldwide

$500

PFY Laptop Housing Kit for Computer Card

This Printed-For-You (PFY) kit has everything needed to create a full
EOMA68 Laptop, including a 3D printed set of casework parts,
bamboo plywood panels, tested and assembled PCBs, cables, battery,
charger, keyboard, LCD, and CTP-LCD for trackpad. Available in a
variety of colors and materials. Excludes Computer Card.

Orders placed now ship May 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $25 Worldwide

Material / Color

$1,200

Completely Assembled Laptop + Computer Card

A meticulously hand-assembled and fully-tested laptop. Includes your choice of EOMA68-A20 Computer Card and 3D-printed casework.

For those people who would like the opportunity to meet the designers
and have them personally go over the project's development, history,
future direction and much more, a week's time can be made available to
meet with you personally, to do a hands-on workshop to help you (and
any number of additional attendees) through the process of putting
together your own fully-functioning laptop and even take you through
the process of building and installing the software. Also included
will be one Laptop with a Computer Card which will be assembled
on-site. You must provide travel, accommodation, tools and a suitable
workshop and presentation space. Contact us directly for details.

Orders placed now ship May 31, 2019.

Free Worldwide Shipping

Material / Color

$20

PCMCIA/EOMA68 Breakout Board

One PCMCIA/EOMA68 Breakout Board with one surface mount PCMCIA header, and tracks to some convenient 2.54-mm-spaced through-holes. Added by popular demand, for access, tinkering, development work, testing, etc.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $10 Worldwide

$35

Pass-through Card

A simple card that takes in HDMI and USB and passes them on. Turns a Laptop Housing into a portable, battery-powered dock for your smartphone, USB-HDMI dongle computer, and tablet, or a second screen, keyboard, and mouse for your existing laptop or desktop PC.

Orders placed now ship Mar 31, 2019.

Free US Shipping / $10 Worldwide

$15

USB + HDMI Cable Set for Standalone Operation

Includes a Micro HDMI Type D cable and 3-way USB-OTG Host-Charger cable tested and known to work with EOMA68 Computer Cards. These are the cables you need to run a Computer Card as a standalone device without the need for a housing. Also useful with the Micro Desktop or Laptop Housing to add a second screen and extra USB port.